The present invention relates to a fruit injector and more particularly, the present invention relates to a device and method suitable for squeezing citrus fruit juice into a container and plunging the rind and other material into the container.
As is known in the beverage industry, some beverages are enjoyed by consumers where the beverage may include a section of citrus fruit. Typical is the situation where a slice of lime or lemon is inserted into a beer bottle. As it is presently conducted, the user simply squeezes the section of citrus fruit over the top of the container, in this case a beer bottle, and subsequently inserts the rind into the bottle. This is a rather messy affair and results in the juice being squeezed out over the hand of the user and elsewhere as opposed to being within the bottle itself.
It would be desirable if there were a device suitable for squeezing and subsequently injecting citrus material into a bottle. The present invention addresses this need.
One object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus suitable for squeezing and subsequently injecting a fruit segment into a container.
A further object of one embodiment of the present invention is to provide a device for injecting a fruit into a container, comprising: a hollow body having an inlet and an outlet, the outlet adapted for disposition over a container top; a plunger slidably mounted within the body for reciprocal movement within the body; and a compression member moveably mounted to the body to compress the fruit, whereby a compressed fruit may be injected into the container through the outlet of the body.
The body may be composed of suitable material which permits numerous uses and is not susceptible to damage during washing. To this end the body may be composed of plastic materials such as polyethylene, polystyrene, high impact polystyrene, etc. In order to compress the fruit within the body, a compression member is provided as indicated above. This member may be mounted to the body either by suitable pivot or flex point or may be slidably moveable relative to the body by a raceway and pin arrangement with the concept being that the compression member is moveable from a load position where the piece of fruit is inserted into the body to a compression position where the material is squeezed in order to discharge the juice into the bottle. In terms of the plunger and the moveable member, similar material as that indicated for the body may be employed to construct these elements and the plunger may include stops or other suitable projections thereon for urging a slice into the bottle neck or container top, etc.
As will be evident, the concept with the instant device is to provide the compression of a section of fruit through a hollow body having a reduced cross-sectional area. The benefit of this type of compression is clearxe2x80x94the juice of the fruit section is eventually discharged to the container over which the hollow body is placed.
As a further feature, the dejuiced section of fruit may be inserted into a container in use. This is an optionally step that is ascribed to the instant invention.
In yet another object of the present invention, there is provided a method for injecting a fruit into a container, comprising the steps of:
providing a hollow body having an inlet and an outlet, the body having a reduced cross-sectional area between the inlet and the outlet and a plunger slidable within the body;
positioning the outlet of the hollow body over the top of the container;
charging the hollow body with a section of fruit;
urging the plunger through the body; and
compressing the section of fruit during plunging through the reduced cross-sectional area to insert the section of fruit and juice into the container.
A still further object of one embodiment of the present invention is to provide a method of extracting juice from a section of fruit, comprising the steps of:
providing a hollow body having an inlet and an outlet, the body having a reduced cross-sectional area between the inlet and the outlet and a plunger slidable within the body;
positioning the outlet of the hollow body over the top of the container;
charging the hollow body with a section of fruit;
compressing the section of fruit within the reduced cross-sectional area of the hollow body; and
draining juice into an open top of a container.
In use, the user moves the compression member into a loading position where the segment of fruit is inserted into the body. The compression members then urge against the fruit and the compression action of the compression member together with the fruit being urged against the plunger results in the juice being discharged from the cells of the fruit and into the container top. The plunger may then be activated to plunge or inject the rind into the container through the outlet in the body.
The present invention allows injection of the segment of fruit into a container in the absence of any mess, while maximizing the amount of juice extraction.
Having thus described the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating preferred embodiments.